Oil Bubbles and Salty Eggs

Don't worry - I did not mix oil bubbles and salty eggs together and force my children to eat them!! Oil Bubbles is a science experiment and Salty Eggs is a cooking class!!

I got another easy and fun science experiment from http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/cauldronbubbles.html

You pour a bunch of oil into a cup of colored water.
Watch all the initial bubbles as the oil and water separate.
Then pour salt into the cup...
Watch as the heaviness of the salt pulls the oil down to the bottom of the cup
Then it actually looks like the salt is blowing bubbles as the oil rises to the top.


This is a picture of Eddie conducting his own science experiment...



Edison spilled some oil and was surprised that it made his paper towel wet. I explained that it soaked up the oil because the oil is a liquid and is wet.
He thought that was very cool! He quickly got more paper towels and continued his experiments.
He also found out that he could write in the spilled oil.

I made them write throughout the experiment and since I am beginning to push correct spelling of common words, I wrote the sentences on the white board for them to copy.



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COOKING CLASS...
Peeling a hard boiled egg is no easy feat! It takes practice!!

Edison is hard at work!



Simone is concentrating!



Andre's first egg was not very lucky... it was beaten and smashed. He took much more care in peeling off the shell of his second egg.



After the eggs were peeled, we experimented with the tast of salt. Everyone agreed that too much salt was BAD and that it makes you thirsty!

Stinky Science

I got the Curds and Whey (Plastic Milk) science experiment from -
http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/plasticmilk.html

Basically you mix 4 teaspoons of white vinegar with 1 1/4 cups skim milk. Then you microwave it for 2 minutes and then strain out the chunks.
Yeah - its gross but the kids love it!

I had the kids smell the vinegar, mix the two ingrediants and help set the microwave. Then they had to write how stinky it was along with the directions.



Then I had their daddy do the dirty work of straining it:



The fumes must have gotten to him :)



Everyone was leery to touch it at first!!

Preschool Fun

Andre is practicing writing his letters using wipe off ABC cards.



Andre is playing with his cash register - he is repeating numbers.



Andre is cutting paper with scissors.



Andre is using glue.



Andre is building with blocks.



Andre in readers theater.



Andre is buttering his own bread in cooking class.



Andre is reading in the reading chair.




Elijah is "reading" in the Elmo chair!

My attempt at being organized

Here is our newest organization tool.
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I got my initial idea from Sue Patricks workbox system. Her system works by having the child's work prepared and placed in boxes that the child can access and do individually. However, her system is too structured for our family since most of the work we do is hands on and together as a family.

I really liked the idea of having the kids visually see what they are going to do and what they have accomplished during the day. SO - Here is our system...
(I got some of my printed tags from Heartofwisdom blog)
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Hanging on our front closet are the children's assignment boards which start out blank each day. (they have 16 Velcro tabs on them)



Here are the subjects tags that are velcroed within the squares. There are four strips and each strip has four squares - equaling 16 subject tags.
Some of these tags are science, reading, writing, bike riding, game, abc, blocks, piano, cooking, etc...
I dont expect to do 16 things everyday, but I love to overplan rather than underplan!
Plus I can incorporate more fun tags this way intermixed with the work tags:)


Sometimes the kids can pick out a subject or sometimes mom does. Either way the kids see that it needs to be done since it is on their assignment strips. Once the assignment is completed, they get to stick their tag on their board and be done with it.


Edison and Simone both picked piano practice this morning, even before changing out of their PJs. They are working on the infamous "Mary Had A Little Lamb"




Edison reading


Simone typing the ABCs.



Andre finding superhero matches.



Doing science outside.



Eli sleeping.


The Kids playing and having FUN!

Rosemary is YUMMY!!

Today was our first day of an on going cooking experience. We are studying spices and how they affect the taste of food.

Today we smelled Rosemary and Paprika. First they had to write what the spice looked like - then they got to smell it.

"Paprika is red, looks like sand and smells like rotten french fries! Rosemary is green, looks like grass and smells like tea."








TIME TO COOK:

First I made one lonely scrambled egg with nothing on it - no butter or salt/pepper or cheese. They tasted it like that to get the full flavor of JUST the egg.



Next I made two eggs with Rosemary...



AND IT WAS YUMMY!!!!



I had to make 5 more eggs :)

School Outside

We enjoyed being outside.... until the misquitos chased us inside!!!

Simone is counting by 10s.


Andre is counting his blocks.


Edison and Simone are using counting blocks for the teen numbers.




Elijah even enjoyed being outside:)



Eddie began reading to me when the misquitos began attacking him... he is just toooo sweet!


It was a little dissapointing to have to come inside, however everyone cheered up while building castles with the blocks.

Apple Picking!

We had LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of fun picking apples!


Edison learned how to play checkers and he beat Daddy!


Then we went to Pierre Marquette National Park... Family Photo
(Christmas Card Preview)


Yes, I climbed this tree ALL BY MYSELF!



It was such a wonderful day!

Huge Feather + Pencil = FUN QUILL

On Friday I was wanting to go to Micheal's to buy a bag of feathers to make some quills for the kids to go with our American History. But... instead I went to Target and bought everyone some new socks. Good thing because while I was garage sailing yesterday I found some gigantic peacock feathers for a quarter a piece!!!

The kids absolutely LOVED writing in their MAGICAL JOURNALS today with their MAGICAL QUILLS!
They also wrote their very best writing today!
Simone's entry:

"The dragon name is Rainbow Pie. She can fly and walk and the dragon Rainbow Pie can fly high high in the sky."

Edison's entry:


"My dragon can blow fire and my dragon can walk and the dragon can see in the dark the dragon can see."

Andre's entry:



"I like dressing up like Harry Potter because he is AWESOME!"